paulproteus writes: "If you work on an open source project and want more help, try inviting people to set up their development environment.

That's what worked for Vidalia and the GIMP. Last Friday, they asked people to build the app for the first time. At the anointed time, enthusiastic users hopped on to the project's IRC channel. By the end of the day, both projects retained new faces on IRC, and Vidalia's bug tracker had new patches attached. The event invitation felt urgent, by listing a specific time, and showed a willingness to bring new people on board; we think those were the keys to success. (Plus, you can read about the event in an attendee's own words.)"

paulproteus writes: "Most computer science never see a bug tracker, and very few learn about version control. Classes don't teach the skills needed for participation. So I organized a weekend workshop at the University of Pennsylvania. Total newbies enthusiastically spent the day on IRC, learned git, built a project from source, and read bugs in real projects. I learned that there's no shortage of students that want to get involved."

paulproteus writes: "Say you have an email where you want to send an extra copy to someone without telling everyone. There's always been a field for that: BCC, or Blind Carbon Copy. But how often have you wanted to do the opposite: make everyone else think you sent a copy to somebody without actually having done so? Enter the new IETF-NG RFC: Cosmetic Carbon Copy, or CCC. Now you can conveniently email all of your friends (with a convenient exception or two...) with ease!"

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The Tsarina: Declaring war on vapid asymplifated caterpillar dishsoap since 1986.